BYU Cougs in the news: Kyle Collinsworth gets traded; Jimmer chimes in on new BYU recruit

Despite not making the roster for the Toronto Raptors, Kyle Collinsworth just might be staying in Canada for a while.

The Raptors 905, Toronto’s G-League affiliate, acquired the rights to the former Cougar guard on Thursday from the Texas Legends in exchange for the returning player rights to Kennedy Meeks and C.J. Leslie.

Collinsworth spend much of his first two seasons of pro ball in the G-League with the Legends where he made enough strides to play 32 games for the Mavericks a season ago. And while he didn’t finish out the 2017-18 season with the Legends, he will be missed. In fact, the Legends’ Twitter page tweeted out some highlights of Collinsworth while saying good-bye.

It was a fitting sendoff for Collinsworth, who was very productive for the Legends, averaging 11 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.8 steals in 20 games a season ago before earning his call-up to the big club.

The Raptors 905 have a short preseason schedule with just one game before squaring off with the Delaware 87ers on Nov. 3rd to open up the regular season.

Fredette chimes in on new BYU recruit

BYU legend, Jimmer Fredette took to Twitter on Thursday to give support to new BYU commit Shengzhe Li.

@ShengzheLi99 congrats on the commitment to BYU man! Excited to see you play! Shanghai is behind you!

With the kind of popularity that Fredette has gained in China over his two seasons in the CBA, it is easy to see that many young Chinese stars would be interested in wearing the same college uniform as the world-class offensive threat.

As for Fredette on the court, he and the Shanghai Sharks are just days away from starting their expanded CBA regular-season schedule.

After playing 38 games each of the last two years, Fredette and his teammates will play 46 games during the season that will last more than a month longer than a year ago.

That wasn’t the only noticeable change to the CBA that also expanded the playoffs from 10 teams to 12.

Zalgiris adds former Michigan star

While Collinsworth and Fredette prep for the start of their seasons, Brandon Davies’ Zalgiris Kaunas squad beefed up their already formidable roster with the addition of former Michigan Wolverine standout Derrick Walton Jr.

The move adds depth to an already impressive backcourt which features former NCAA standouts Thomas Walkup and Nate Wolters.

Davies and Zalgiris are back on the floor on Friday with a brutal EuroLeague matchup against Turkish League power, Fenerbahce Istanbul. Fenerbahce is 2-0 on the young season with convincing wins over Gran Canaria and Khimki.